Sina C.

For years, AI in insurance meant automating the back office: faster quotes, smoother workflows, fewer manual tasks. That was a great start, but speed alone won’t win in an increasingly competitive market. What excites me now is the shift toward AI that actually drives revenue. Tools like Outmarket AI, CoverForce, and Liberate are helping brokers prioritize high-conversion submissions, align with carrier appetite, and re-engage dormant leads. It’s not just about efficiency anymore. It’s about enabling smarter growth. At Fika Ventures, we’re excited by platforms that combine automation with intelligence. The winners in this space won’t just move faster. They’ll move with precision. Read more of my thoughts in the blog below 👇 https://lnkd.in/gNZ255GQ

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Is InsurTech still a thing? This is a question that may come to mind, given the headlines we see regularly. Nonetheless, innovation is still under construction and tech startups are still trying to revamp the insurance industry. This is what you could learn from this FT Partners' yearly report on the state of InsurTech, which relies on every deal announced last year. I read that 59-page report for your, here are my takeaways: - While money invested is clearly down - with $5.2B raised last year -, the number of rounds announced is slightly up - 282 deals were inked last year. (see page 10) - The average size of rounds has overall plateaued, though it's done for Seed and Series C. (see page 13) Still, more than half of all rounds announced were below $10m. (see page 15) - Money invested in the US and Asian InsurTech ecosystem is down while in Europe and the "rest of the World" it's up. (see page 19) - Corporates keep retreating from investing in InsurTech startups as the share of CVC in the total investment activity is down to one of its lowest level since FT Partners is tracking it. (see page 31) - And of course, the report dedicates a section to the dynamic surrounding AI-first InsurTech startups. (see page 25). - Last but not least, as we do every year, we shared insights on the European InsurTech landscape, with a particular focus on Seed-stage startups. (see page 20). #insurance #insurtech #venturecapital

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On the newest Vital Signs, Nikhil Krishnan and I sat down with Daniel Perez, the Co-Founder and CEO of Hinge Health. Hinge is a digital clinic for patients with joint and muscle pain and has raised $800M+. We discuss Hinge’s strategy for selling to employers, how digital health solutions can reach and retain users, the role of software x hardware in disrupting healthcare and more: 🦴 How digital health companies can successfully sell to employers Daniel acknowledges that breaking in with employers is growing increasingly more difficult, but there are three things founders can do to stand out:  1. Be great in your category. Employers want to buy the best-in-class products for their largest cost items (e.g., musculoskeletal, mental health, cardiometabolic health). As a result, Daniel cautions against prematurely expanding laterally beyond a company’s core indication.  2. Validate your outcomes. Daniel believes in digital health companies validating their ROIs, which Hinge Health has done in partnership with top academic institutions.  3. Be easy to buy. Point solution fatigue can be mitigated if you have strong channel partnerships to reduce employer burden. 🦴 Takeaways from engaging patients & keeping them adherent Daniel goes through four steps in partnering with patients:  1. Get awareness. Hinge Health works hard to ensure potential members hear about the company when they’re in pain, a time when they’re most likely to use the product. 2. Build confidence early. Hinge Health has a brief but clinically rigorous intake process, creating customer trust from the beginning.  3. Make it easier to start. The majority of Hinge Health members start their care within the same day that they enroll.  4. Get to success quickly. Patients start feeling better soon after they start therapy, giving them faith that the program is working for them.  🦴 The future of healthcare x technology Daniel believes that in the future, software will enable all “non-touch” aspects of healthcare, such as interpreting symptoms, formulating diagnoses, and crafting care plans. Simultaneously, connected hardware advancements will enable automation of “touch” elements of care, such as continuous monitoring or therapeutic pain relief devices. 🦴 How Hinge Health uses AI Hinge Health focuses their AI on bread and butter applications. Computer vision underpins their at-home exercise therapy to track user poses and offer real-time feedback. AI helps to scale their care team – for instance, the technology will have a Hinge Health member summarized when the care team reaches out. Moreover, integrating AI into product experiences results in more personalized and evolving treatment. Lots of actionable lessons for founders in this episode with the CEO of one of digital health’s most successful companies! Listen to the full episode below: Spotify: https://bit.ly/3WSmCWs Apple: https://bit.ly/3CMs9ab

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Health tech's last five years laid its foundation; the next five will change the game entirely. We at Define Ventures took a hard look at our sector because we wanted to dive into the real story. Whether we looked at venture funding, relative sector performance, public market trends, or M&A, we found that health tech has performed quite well over its early years in light of the evolution and change during our recent history. And more importantly, that the next wave of companies defining it are doing so in unprecedented fashion: * They’re scaling faster. Companies expected to pursue liquidity events over the coming years are reaching 2-3x the revenue scale of previous exits. * They’re building more efficiently. AI and automation are making commercialization faster and less capital​ intensive * They’re meeting a more receptive buyer market. Payers, providers, employers​, and pharma are more equipped to adopt new solutions than they were even five years ago ​ We believe this is a defining moment for ​h​ealth tech. The companies emerging today won’t just digitize healthcare— they ​w​ill fundamentally rethink how care is delivered, paid for, and experienced. Our latest report unpacks what this means for founders, investors, and the healthcare ecosystem at large:

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